


morning after reconnection

by BatBoyBlog



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: High School, M/M, Party, underaged drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-01
Updated: 2019-06-01
Packaged: 2020-04-05 19:34:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19046950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BatBoyBlog/pseuds/BatBoyBlog
Summary: A night of high school drinking brings Richie together with a friend he doesn't remember.





	morning after reconnection

“ugh!” Richie Tozier moaned the sunlight from his open window stabbing through his closed eyelids like knives. He opened his eyes and was surprised to see the blurry outlines of his own room. “shit how’d I get home?” he wondered and grabbed his glasses off the nightstand. As his alarm clock came into focus he saw it was almost noon.

Richie thanked the god he didn’t really believe in “oh thank you get universe turtle” he mumbled sarcastically, that his parents were away for the long weekend. He slouched toward the bathroom to splash cold water on his face and take a much over due piss. Coming out of the bathroom and feeling slightly more human Richie tried to remember last night. 

Richie wasn’t really sure when he became the kind of person who got invites to high school parties. This one didn’t really stand out, a bonfire in a field somewhere. Cheap beer and harder stuff people had smuggled out of parent’s liquor cabinets mixed with whatever they had at hand. He remember flashes, chugging a whole red solo cup in one good to wild cheers. Thumping music from someone’s car. Dancing close with someone, their bodies and movements matching somehow perfectly. Richie wasn’t a good dancer he knew which maybe explained why everyone had been looking at him. 

Richie thought he should go downstairs and make some coffee and start fighting back against this hang over. Why’d he drank so much? He never normally got that drunk. Richie struggled to remember, he’d been upset by something, right? Then it dawned on him, Beverley Marsh, a girl in his grade with the reddest hair of anyone he’d ever seen. She was dating some brain dead football playing jock who’s name Richie intentionally never remembered. He’d heard her telling one of her friends in the hall on Thursday that she got into some fashion school in Chicago.

He had no idea why he cared but the thought of Beverley Marsh, Bev he’d thought of her as in that moment, moving across the country so he’d never see her again was the most depressing thing imaginable. The funk that at settled on him didn’t lift all Friday and he’d spent Friday night trying to kill it with booze. Even now, on Saturday morning the thought of Bev moving to Chicago after graduation made Richie want to throw up. “Yep time for Coffee” he grumbled as he stalked down the stairs to his kitchen. 

Richie stopped cold and blinked, there was someone in his kitchen. It took him a long moment to place the boy sitting at his kitchen table sipping coffee. “Eddie?” Richie managed after a moment. Eddie Kaspbrak was a kid in his grade, they had English together, Richie didn’t know him well, though he thought maybe they’d been friends at one point. Eddie smiled at him and raised his mug “morning sunshine, there’s more in the pot” 

Richie automatically stumbled to the coffee maker and poured a cup he was too confused. He stood at the kitchen island and watched Eddie for a few minutes before managing to speak. “Uh Eds, not that I’m objecting to waking up to made coffee and all, but um what you doing here dude?” 

“Don’t call me Eds” Eddie said mildly. Richie hadn’t even realized he’d given the guy he barely knew a nickname. “and don’t you remember?” For a second Richie just stared blankly not knowing what Eddie was talking about. Then he did remember. The dancing, wild laugher, jokes slurred into each other’s ears, hiding in a dark corner out of the fire light, fingers in his hair, kisses. Richie didn’t realize he was backing up till his ass bumped into the counter. “oh shit” 

Eddie laughed. “yeah well they all already think I’m…” he flopped his free hand down in a limp wristed movement. Richie had to laugh “So… I might’ve been a little drunk.” he said lamely. “Only a little?” Eddie said smiling at him still but Richie could see a little panic in his eyes. Richie realized that Eddie thought he was trying to back out of what had happened, play the too drunk straight boy who didn’t remember. Maybe he did, this was not how he wanted anyone to find out and over Eddie Kaspbrak? who he barely knew? who he hadn’t spoken to since….

“uh” Richie shook his head which had filled with screaming birds when he tried to remember the last real conversation he’d had with Eddie. “So that party, not your uh normal thing Eds, what you doing there?” 

“I said, don’t call me Eds” there was a bit of an edge to it now. “And I was there because you asked, remember? After last bell yesterday, you stopped at my locker, said ‘be there or be square’” Richie blinked slowly. Yes he had done that, why? he’d just seen Eddie stuffing books into his locker and had walked up and told him about the party and insisted he come. Richie could remember doing it but it was like the memory of something from a movie, he couldn’t remember any thoughts of feelings he’d had.

Eddie sighed and looked into his coffee. “Look, if… if you want me to go home and we can act like… go back to not knowing each other at school on Tuesday, its only a few weeks till graduation, I can do that, just say so?” 

Richie crossed the room and plopped down in the seat across from Eddie and looked at him. The logical part of his brain screamed at him to take the offer, claim to people he was so drunk he didn’t remember anything at all. Ride it out till he graduated and he went to Berkley. “Nah, if I did that I’d never get to know how you got to be such a good dancer spaghetti man” 

“spaghetti?”

Richie blinked “Eddie spaghetti of course” Eddie’s eye brows went up in bemusement before coming together something crossed his face a problem or a half formed thought. “of course…”


End file.
